We studied the effects of Pd, Ru, and Ta seed-layers on the perpendicular magnetic properties of Co/Pd multilayers, promising materials for high-density magnetic recording media. Among the various seeds, the Ta seed-layer demonstrated a large coercivity and most highly promoted fcc (111) preferred orientation of the Co/Pd multilayer. We also patterned films into island arrays with sizes of 2 x 2 mu m(2), 5 x 5 mu m(2), and 10 x 10 mu m(2) to investigate the effect of size on the magnetic properties. The coercivity increased as the island size decreased. The 2 x 2 mu m(2) patterned Co/Pd multilayer with the Ta seed-layer showed a coercivity about six times greater than that of the un-patterned film. This increase can be explained by a change in the magnetization reversal mechanism from domain wall propagation to domain rotation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.